WallStreetBets Members May Have Lost Over $2M to Telegram Crypto Scam: Report

Members of the WallStreetBets (WSB) Reddit forum were targeted by a probable cryptocurrency scam that could have led to losses of over $2 million, according to Bloomberg.

• Users were encouraged to buy a new token called WSB Finance on an account called “WallStreetBets – Crypto Pumps” on messaging service Telegram.
• The account told users to send either Binance coins (BNB) or ether to a crypto wallet and then contact its “token bot” to receive WSB Finance tokens, which were never delivered.
• Around 3,451 BNB were then removed from this wallet, which at the crypto’s current valuation of $650 equates to more than $2.2 million. This does not account for how much ETH was also sent.
• The Telegram group was not affiliated with WSB and has since disappeared, according to the report
• WallStreetBets gained notoriety in January for causing an explosion in the price of GameStop (GME) stock in a community bid to counter short sellers.
• The subreddit has been resistant to allowing crypto discussion on its forums, tentatively lifting its ban in April before reinstating it less than 24 hours later.

See also: We Went Hunting for Crypto Scams in Google and Apple App Stores. Here’s What We Found